H. Brothers (China)
Background: Huayi Brothers Pictures, founded in Beijing, China in 1994 by brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei, Huayi Brothers Media Corporation produces and distributes film and television programs in China. The company focuses on artist development, music production, and offline distribution of music. It also provides talent management and advertising services. Huayi Brothers went public in Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2009, becoming the first film company listed in China's stock market. China tech companies Alibaba and Tencent also own a minority stake. In 2011, Hollywood's Legendary Pictures and Huayi Brothers created a venture called Legendary East, aiming at China's increasingly lucrative film market. The partnership plans to make one or two "major, event-style films" a year for worldwide audiences starting in 2013. 1st Logo (1995-2000) Nicknames: "HTF", "Glowing HTF", "Taihe Film" Logo: On a dark blue/blue graident background, we see a glowing, white "H" with it being sliced in half horizontal down the middle zooming out and rotating into place. It is followed by a "T" and a "F" in the same style, making "HTF". It stops glowing and then 2 big red stars and 8 smaller red stars appears on top and bottom, forming a ring that then makes a red rectangle behind the text. A line of sparkles flies across the bottom of the screen, revealing "Huayi Brothers & Taihe Film" and the Chinese characters above it. The logo and text shine repeatably. FX/SFX: The text rotating, the ring of stars, the shining. The quality of the CGI is good for the time. Music/Sounds: A rising drone ending with 2 orchestral hits. Availability: Seen on their movies during the era. Scare Factor: Minimal. The orchestral hits could make some people jump. 2nd Logo (2001-2005) Nicknames: "The Dragon", "Clear Huayi Brothers", "H. Brothers" Logo: On a sun lit sky at the ocean with wave slowly moving, we see a white dragon flying around. As it arches over the sun, it creates a ring of stars and in between the stars, a rectangle with the words "H. Brothers" cutted out and "Beijing" and "Circa 1994" are seen above and below the rectangle. The sky is also reflected in the rectangle. The dragon flies off and Chinese characters appear below. The logo fades out except for the Chinese characters, which fade out later. FX/SFX: The dragon. Everything else was made in amazing CGI. Music/Sounds: A calming music piece. Availability: Rare. Scare Factor: None. This logo is actually quite calming. 3rd Logo (2006-2009) Nicknames: "The Flood", "Blood River" Logo: In a white city, a drop of red liquid splashes into a river of it. We then fade a pan shot of the river flooding the city, which then rotates and goes into a screen-shaped space of it, which then glows. We pan out to see the full glowing text of "HY. BROTHERS" and it rises from the spaces. The city disappears and Chinese characters wipe in as the "O" gains a shadow. FX/SFX: The river flooding the city and forming the logo. Music/Sounds: The sound of fluid running ending with a Chinese flute tune. Availability: Seen on their movies during the era. Scare Factor: Minimal, due to the red flooding. 4th Logo (2009-2012) Nicknames: "The Sky", "Orange Clouds" Logo: In the sky, we glide across a field of clouds. Then, a tower of clouds rises up and the top starts to turn orange. The top then seperates and then blows away to reveal the Huayi Brothers logo, though in silver and now styled as "H. BROTHERS". and Chinese characters. FX/SFX: The clouds. Music/Sounds: A calming Chinese music piece. Availability: Rare. Scare Factor: Minimal. Another calming logo. 5th logo (August 7th, 2012- ) Nicknames: "The H Gate", "China's Lionsgate" Logo: We pan up from a bunch of golden gears and silver parts. The silver part rotates to reveal a bunch more gears and a "H"-shaped gate, covered in many symbols and has a lion head in the middle. It then becomes more solid by moving parts and moves closer. The lion head moves up and then some more parts move before finally opening up. When the gate opens, it reveals *H. BROTHERS" and its Chinese translation underneath it spreading a bit and shining. The background fades to black, leaving the text. Variants: *A short version exists. *On the American release of Rock Dog, it is shorter, fades in when the gate opens and fades out when the background fades to black. FX/SFX: The gears and gate opening, that is unlocking, clearly ripping off Lionsgate's logo. Music/Sounds: The sound of gears turning and things moving and opening, or the opening theme. Availability: The long version is seen on The Boy. The short version is seen on most films such as The Gift, Free State of Jones and Bad Moms. Scare Factor: Low. The sound of gears may spook you,, but it's not that scary. 6th Logo (2016- ) Logo: On a space background, the yellow light suddenly shining appears and dimming out to reveal the same text (Both in English and Chinese). FX/SFX: The light and the text zooming. Music/Sounds: None or opening theme of the movie. Music/Skunds Variant: Beginning with Mile 22, the sound of the light is added. Availability: Current. Debuted on Hardcore Henry. Seen on The Happytime Murders. Scare Factor: None. Category:China